So last week, I lied to you. Just a little. I told you that my new lounge was one of my favourite rooms in the house when actually I think the kitchen is.
It’s the room that I spend the most time in and is a completely different place compared with the old one. The area to cook in is about a third of the size, but rather than this being at all pokey or annoying it just means that everything is within arm’s reach. It’s perfect.
There are a few things I’ve changed in here: I have replaced the blind and made a floral curtain over the ugly boiler (when I say ‘I’ made the curtain I mean I chose the fabric, measured the boiler then asked my Mother-in-Law to do it).
Home improvements like this are a great way to prolong the life of your appliances. Boilers for example can be temperamental which is why keeping yours hidden behind a curtain can prevent it from becoming damaged or needing any repairs. Moreover, if you do not already have a home warranty plan in place, investing in one can help you to cover the cost of any repairs or improvements further down the line. If you would like to learn more about the benefits of a home warranty plan, you can find some helpful resources on the First American website here: https://homewarranty.firstam.com/homeowner/home-warranty/nevada
One of the best things about this kitchen is the MOTHERTRUCKING PANTRY! I’ve been lucky enough to live in a couple of houses with pantries before, and really is there anything else a middle-class country dweller craves more than a pantry in her kitchen? I think not. Ours looks a little bare as so much of our glassware lives in the garage (which is off the kitchen) so we are able to keep it to the bare essentials: breadmaker, mini magimix, veg, recycling bin, dried herbs and spices, ceareals… that sort of thing. I love it, duh.
I think this is my favourite piece of art in the whole house, in my favourite frame. The art was from Etsy (no longer available) and the frame was a chazza shop special… the best kind of serendipitous decoration I real. It’s my sense of humour all over.
When we moved into this house there was a washing machine where the dishwasher lives and we were told that a) white goods were included and b) there was plumbing for a washing machine in the garage. On moving-in day there was a gaping big hole in the kitchen where the washing machine used to be and no plumbing in the garage. I was shamefully a bit distraught: I felt that life without a dishwasher would be pretty bloody hard (first world problems, I know). Luckily my very clever dad plumbed my washing machine into the garage – being reunited with my beloved washing machine after 2 years was WONDERFUL – and I found a year-old dishwasher (with 3 years left on it’s John Lewis guarantee!) on eBay for 70 quid. Will bought it for me for Christmas and order was once again restored.
This is where we eat. I love to cook our dinner as I watch the littlies tuck into whichever organic delight I’ve cooked up for them and this table is just big enough for family meals. It was another eBay bargain and is awaiting a lick of Annie Sloan chalk paint once the weather’s a big brighter and we can take it outside.
This pot comes from my local garden centre: it was love at first sight.
More Charity Shop bargains – my decanters and royal mug which is full of Crayola pens – and the unit that used to house cookbooks but is now the home of toys and plenty of the ‘That’s Not My…’ series.
Because the sight of the pantry door was boring me to tears I thought I’d plaster it in family pictures. It’s such a lovely thing to stand and look at over your morning cup of tea, so many happy memories. Giving it a cursory glance I can see my Grandma (the original Elfreda), Will and I in NYC, Malaysia and Greece, my in-laws in Tunisia, my dad and I when I was Elfie’s age, gorgeous Aly McLoughlin-Harte (Bryony you’re on there somewhere too!), my BFF just as she got engaged and both Elfie and Hux in utero. I love photo doors, or walls, whatever. Memories ?
Our fridge is home to lots of letter magnets which are regularly abused to spell out rude words. And this is how I found out my husband can’t spell ‘Chlamydia’ properly :)
Last but not least is the windowsill. An ever-rotating display of flowers, herbs and candles, the flower du jour being daffs which are all over the place at the moment (and these ones smell DIVINE).
I love my kitchen.
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So cosy with style. I love the picture frame wall feature and pic’s on door. I remember covering my ugly fitted wardrobe doors in my first flat with pic’s of friends/family made me smile every morning. This post is making me well excited and inspired for when I move into my new house – i cant wait to make it feel like a home. Xx
Thank you Jemma! I think I was a student the last time I made a ‘picture wall’ but it’s really brightened up my kitchen ;) x
This is very spooky, but so like our first home. Their was even a hollow with a curve (sorry the correct words fail me) for the fridge and a pantry. I still lust after that perfectly formed kitchen
That’s exactly what it is: perfectly formed. There’s no range cooker or huge storage spaces (that’s what the garage is for now!) but I love it.
Elfie has re-purposed my fairy lights that I bought for the kitchen after seeing yours looking so lovely, need to buy more.
Hooray for more house love. I’m glad you are enjoying your new home. I love it. Nice and light and just big enough. Ours is a basement kitchen with patio doors to the garden, but no windows in the back half because we are underground there.. so not a lot of light and no windowsill for flowers :( it does have a motherfucking pantry though. jealous of your shelves. we have old bookcases and they don’t quite cut it.
can’t believe that print is no longer available! I always liked it, but never bought it as I don’t really drink so doesn’t apply!
THAT PANTRY! Ahh. Makes life complete.
Am I right in thinking you live in a townhouse-type place? I love the layout of townhouses.
Yes, kind of. It’s three floors but you enter at street level to the middle floor, which has a double bedroom and the living room, then down a level to the ‘basement’ kitchen/diner which leads out to the garden – which is down a level from the street. So its not really a basement, although half of the kitchen is. Then the top level is two more double bedrooms, en suite and bath. It’s nice and roomy, for a new house at least!
My kitchen is also my favourite room to be in – I love seeing what other people have done with theirs. I also recently blogged about how I covered my boiler up with some pretty fabric! I am new to blogging and hope you’ll take a peek at thesublimetimes.blogspot.co.uk
Love your blog.
Hannah x
Ahh another boiler-fabric person = hooray! I like yours too – isn’t it much nicer to look at a curtain or blind than an ugly boiler?
Love the charity shop pieces! And would so love a sit-in kitchen. The only seat that has space in our kitchen is P’s bouncy chair.
I do love the excellent countryside charity shops here! xx
Such a lovely kitchen! Very ‘homey’ if you know what I mean? I love the outdoors quote and all the family pictures! Xo
Thank-you Eilidh! x
FIT kitchen. We are compost caddy twins! GO US! SO much more chic than generic grey plastic jobbies AMIRIGHT?!
*tosses hair* *slips on loubies* *makes slutty brownies*
OHH LOL FOREVER xxx
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